Difference between calculus ab and bc

While different colleges have their own requirements, the general rule of thumb is that the AB exam counts as one semester of college calculus, and the BC exam qualifies as two semesters. Students who anticipate having to take two or more core math classes may be better off in the BC class.

BC Calculus includes everything in AB Calculus, plus a few extra topics. You’ll actually get an AB Calculus sub-score when you take the BC exam. So Calculus BC is not necessarily more difficult than Calculus AB. BC Calculus has to move faster because it covers more material, which is what makes it more intense than AB.

Each course is challenging and demanding and requires a similar depth of understanding of common topics. AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC were designed to represent year-long college courses, so it is not recommended that you take both Calculus AB and Calculus BC courses within the same year.

It is solely differentiation, integration, and limits. Calc BC is integration techniques, limits, and some series. Calc 2 as I understand it just covers integrals, applications, and methods. Calc 3 at many universities is series and sequences, and at many universities is vector calculus.

United States History, Biology, English Literature, Calculus BC, Physics C, and Chemistry are often named as the hardest AP classes and tests. These classes have large curriculums, tough tests, and conceptually difficult material.

The AP Calculus BC test is significantly easier than the AB because of the thin layout of the BC test. There is so much content in the BC Test, having to cover both AB contents, parametric equations, Taylor Series, etc, that the test becomes sparsely distributed, leaving the problems to not be as difficult.

However, you should not skip AB. This is because AB calculus covers the basics of calculus, such as limits, derivatives and integration (basic). This will be applied in BC Calc. When you start a semester long BC course like me, you jump right into L’Hopital’s rule.

The reason the AP Calc BC exam has such a high percentage of 5’s is because the people taking the exam typically fall into two categories. People who are at least 1 year ahead in math. They took AP Calc AB in their junior year or even earlier, and are now taking AP Calc BC their senior year or even potentially earlier.

Of those who considered themselves a “math person,” AP Calculus AB was not very difficult (average score: 2.04), and AP Calculus BC was slightly difficult (average score: 2.64). Of those who considered themselves somewhat of a “math person,” AP Calculus AB was moderately difficult (average score: 3.42).